Just a Game
by a.long.way.down
Summary: ShikaTema Freak sandstorms and crazy events. Fate exists to bring these two together. But of course, they resist. They deny. They will never admit it, never find out. But fate exists. T for pottymouth
1. Chapter 1 : Questions

Yay! Shikatema! I must say, this isn't my first fanfic, just my first submitted one, and this is just a disgustingly short prolouge. Intoduction. I don't even know where I'm going from here. I just typed this up an said, hay, maybe I can submit it and then give myself some motivation to continue it. Whateverr...

Yay, ShikaTema! 3

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Chapter 1

An Escort.

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"20 questions." Her voice was loud, demanding, her blonde hair drooping slightly from the rain but still managing to bounce as she glared up at him with daring eyes.

"What the he.." His eyebrows moved upwards slowly, his mouth instinctively turning into a frown. He was stuck. In the rain. On a mission. With TEMARI. Why her? Why the hell did it have to be her? Tsunande had obviously wanted to torture him, get him back for being lazy on his reports or some other impossibly illogical thing. He couldn't understand that woman. Not at all. Yes, he had become better friends with Temari since The Sand and Konoha had begun getting along better, but it didn't mean that he would willingly walk out into the rain just to escort her home.

The sky was dark. There were absolutely no clouds. It was just gloom and wet, everywhere. And of course, it was just sand and the blonde girl who was taking strides to long he actually has to jog to keep up with her. Damn that troublesome woman.

"You were told to escort me. Now entertain me." Her voice was now slightly haughty, proud and insolent as she looked away from him, and continued without a hesitation.

"Fine. I'll start. Favorite color?"

With a sigh, his arm traveled upwards and his hands ran through his wet hair, raking it through the high ponytail as he wondered for the millionth time why it had to be her. "Favorite… wha..? Eh… green." He just named the first thing he though of, not really caring about it or anything else. He just wanted to be home.

They walked in complete silence for a few seconds as she waited for him so ask a question next, and as he enjoyed brief moment of peace before finally opening his own mouth to question her.  
"Damn.. what a pain. Favorite food?"

"Dango." Her reply was instantaneous, she had been thinking about her answer even before he asked the question. Favorite color, favorite food. The two most generic questions to start off with. "Favorite flower?"

"Why the hell would I care?" He turned to glare at her, his arm dropping from his hair as he searched through his mind, trying to remember flowers. Ino had ranted about them many times, he remembered that much. But, why would he remember what she was saying? He has always zoned out those time, watching the mist or the clouds and oblivious to her descriptions and complaints about the cost of flowers a proper care of them.

"Egh… morning glory." The only flower he could think of. He remembered getting Ino a few for her birthday, she had immediately began describing the medical properties and history of it. "Um…"

He rolled his eyes as he tried to think of a question. This was getting more and more boring. Neither of them really wanted to know about the other, Temari was just speaking to get rid of the silence, he was sure of that. "First kiss?" Another generic question.

She hesitated for a second before answering. "First grade. He's in a comma now." She coughed sheepishly, then her eyebrows furrowed and she glared at him, daring him to object. "Favorite video game?"

"Uuuh… tetris.."

"What the hell? What kind of game is that?"

"It's the least troublesome. Every other game you have to.. do stuff. I dunno. Keep from dying or something. Tetris.. you just… swivel little blocks around."

Her eyebrows went up, and she tried to prevent a snicker as she stared at him, waiting for a question.

"Lesse.. what do people usually say in these games… current crush..?" He asked nonchalantly, without even caring. Why should he? It was just a question.

Her mouth turned down into an unexpected snarl, and she whirled on him, kimono swirling and a shower of sand spraying over his feet. "What? You ask the stupidest questions! Boring lazyass"

She calmed down after a second, feeling the sand seeping into her sandals and flipping her hair slightly, not even sure why she had gotten so aggravated.

"Hm.. Actually… Naruto's pretty cute."

He tried not to snicker as he gazed at her. She was looking downwards, and it only took him a second to realize that she was lying. It was a simple lie, although he didn't know why she said it, or why he could tell. Naruto just wasn't her type.

Still. Maybe it was his ego or something, but maybe he felt just a little bit disappointed with her last answer. Just a bit. Maybe.


	2. Chapter 2 : Thoughts

Meep. Chapter twoo! I'm surprised at my own dedication!

Thanks for reading, and thanks for faving/reviewing! It really inspired me whenever I saw a favorite or a review. Anyways... Um.. yeah. On with it!

Oh, extra thoughts, if you guys want any pairings that I approve of done with a 54 Promp kind of a thing, I'd love to, just pick a pairing that I like and send me a promp list! I'm love that! (Haylette, Reffie, SoraYuffie, ShikaTema, NaruSaku, YamaHaru, HitsaMomo or Karin, etc.)

THESE AWESOMZ PPLZ DOEZ NOT BELONG TO MEH! (Or else I really wouldn't be writing fanfics about them)

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Chapter 2

A Danger.

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Her eyes opened slowly, apprehensively, unsure of the world around them. And yes, the outside world at the moment was something to be unsure of. The sky was a foreboding purple-black, and so much rain poured from the heavens that it gave the illusion of an ocean on earth. The sand, of course, was the worst part. It was everywhere, all around them, with nothing else to be seen, creating huge whirlwinds in the blasting gales and tearing up anything softer than a stick of metal. It's soft edges became razor sharp as it spun, and the whole world became an illusion of brown and black, the sand and the rain so intermixed they seemed to blend into one living, breathing being.

And why was Temari here? More importantly, why was she alive? She tried to glance up, but her eyes instinctively closed shut as she saw that the sand was above her just as much as it was around her. She was practically buried, curled in a cocoon, her arms folded over her head in a vain effort to fight away the sand. She managed to shield her face enough to shift the sand away from her wet, dirty blonde hair and to gaze up a least a little bit. Her fan was propped in front of her, not shaking at all in the tornado-like wind, it's tough iron and indestructible fabric restraining a torrent of sand that was about to rush onto her like a waterfall. Of course. Her trusty, wonderful fan had saved them. Them?

Shikamaru? Where the hell was he? Wait, and how the hell had they just collapsed in the middle of the desert? She couldn't remember any of it. However, one thing stuck in her mind. She was absolutely sure that she had been the one who had save that whiny lazy-man's ass, just because it would be much to embarrassing to think otherwise. After another few seconds of contemplation over the level of embarrassment this situation provided, she snapped back to reality. She was in the middle of the desert. Shikamaru… wasn't here. Had he abandoned her? Bastard! Maybe he had died?

She snorted, hugely doubting it. The chances of a trained Chunnin dying from a mere sandstorm (even one of such huge scale) were practically impossible. Well…. it was possible for an idiot like Naruto… but a genius like that certain black-haired bastard? Never. Where was he?

As she lay there, mathematical computations related to statistics running through her head at the speed of light, she felt something shift against her. Something that wasn't sand. Something that was most certainly alive. Her eyes widened as she felt it shift, her eyebrows rose quickly and sharply. But she didn't scream, didn't panic. Not like those sissies back in Konoha would. Especially not like that stupid ponytailed Blondie. Instead, her hand moved to the pouch tied beneath her sandy kimono, the pouch that was over ten pounds and filled with an amazingly huge assortment of obviously-deadly weapons. The thing that had brushed against her skin moved even more. It rose, pushing the sand above it out of the way. Soon, a ragged clump of black hair framing pale skin emerged from the ocean of beige. As that mysterious object rose, so did something above her body. A great weight that had been on her back was released, and now she felt something slipping out from below her, sliding out from the sand and out from under the black cloth of the kimono.

It took her a while to realize what had just happened. And what it meant. The mathematical equations stopped and winked out. Her mind went blank for a second as she stared. She had been completely and totally unconscious. And the whole time, completely and totally wrapped in his arms. Thoughts and emotions came running into her mind. A mix of almost everything you could name. Resentment. Anger. Surprise. Relief. Curiosity. Comfort. And happiness. The last one was pushed out of her mind just as it entered it, but it had been present nonetheless. Now. Now she didn't know how to react. What should she do?

Scream? Tell him off? Tell him how retarded she must feel lying unconscious in his arms for who-knows-how-many-hours? Act like a stupid blushing schoolgirl and tell him how comforted and relieved she had been by the fact that he was here…. with her? The last option she threw out without a single consideration. Like she would ever do that.

Maybe she should just pretend it had never happened. After all, she didn't see him freaking out about it as he raised his head, squinting through thin, spiky black hair that had wriggled out of the rubber tie of his ponytail. Well… it was the reasonable thing to do. When stuck in the middle of a wet, cold, windy sandstorm, the best way to survive was to a) get out or b) bury yourself in sand and conserve body heat. B seemed like the most reasonable option for the moment. But… maybe he was waiting for her to say something. Maybe it meant something to _him_

She didn't realize she was still staring until she finally zoned back into the earth to see a rough, sand covered hand waving in front of her hand. "Damn.. hey..hey.. woman… ya hurt?" His voice was hoarse and uneven, and he had to yell for the sound to reach two feet to her ears. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get a strong feeling of relief out of his body as she slapped his hand away and moved her face closer to his, her voice as hoarse as his as she screamed. "Fine, dumass. I'm just stuck in the middle of a sandstorm, lost in a desert. What happened… why was I unconscious?"

She could see him roll his eyes even through the pillar of rain and sand. Of course… their faces were really close. In any normal situation, she would be beating the pulp out of him by now, and he would have run off crying to his mommy. Stupid, stupid man. "We were almost at your village… then the storm got absolutely huge… I was working out what to do and how to proceed when you grabbed me and pulled me down into the sand, screaming something about impossible to survive, propping your fan up in front of us, and laying down by me. Then you passed out… God.. what a pain…"

She mumbled something under her breath, which he could only make out as "Makes sense…" She could remember it all now, the panic, her instant reaction, the way he had understood, put his arms around her… comforted her. _No! No! Not comforted! You were perfectly fine! Conserved body heat! _She blushed inwardly, but her façade was so good that not a hint or the redness reached her cheeks. He wouldn't be able to see it anyways.

He got up slowly, straining to see her face, her reaction. Either she was very, very good at hiding it, or she really wasn't bothered, wasn't phased by the fact that he had been totally wrapping himself around her. He coughed, pushed away that thought. Conserving body head. It was nothing more.

"Okay, we need to get to your village! Lead the way!" His mouth was close to hear ear as he yelled, and she nodded quickly, rising up against the wind and pushing her fan out of the sand, using it as a shield as she reached her hand down to pull him up behind the fan and out of the sand. As she felt him brush up beside her, pressing towards her to get away from the sand, she started and dropped his hand, instead reaching forward to put both hands on the fan, and taking a few steps forward. He stepped perfectly behind her, somehow managing to keep his cool, uncaring demeanor even in the middle of a sandstorm. That wasn't fair!

They had only progressed a few steps through the thick wet sand when her grip on the slick iron of the fan slipped a bit, and both her hit with a mouthful of sand. Shikamaru groaned and spit it out, rolling his eyes at her, but slyly checking to see if she was alright. Wait. What? Checking.. to…

He pushed the thought out of his mind. He wasn't. It was just instinct. As her saw her continue to struggle with the fan, he sighed and stopped, startling her as the warmth of him left her. She turned back, managing to continue holding the fan in the impossible wind, watching him as he got into position. His hair flapped across his face in the wind, obscuring his vision, but he reached deep down within him and pulled out the power of shadows, let the chakra collect in his fingers and form into his wonderful shadows. They reached forwards, enveloping the fan, covering it's tough canvas in a layer of dark. Temari instantly felt relief, but still kept her grip on the fan tight. He was supporting her, helping her hold it. Of course, she would never let him place a filthy hand on her fan, but this was as close as it was ever gonna get.

With this new setup of shared labor, they both struggled forward, both held onto the fan shielding them from the layers of sand. They progressed slowly, stamina slowly wearing away, but they progressed nonetheless.

They walked side by side, both feeling comfort in each other's presence, both pushing the thought of that comfort away, reminding themselves that it was just logical. Nothing romantic. Not even friendly. Just logical, to walk with a huge iron fan supported by one pair of hands and one pair of shadowy hands, their sides pressed together and their cheeks close. Just logical.

After what seemed like an eternity of horrible walking, of holding the hard iron, of trying to push away illogical, untrue thoughts, the wind and the sand died down, and both the ninja collapsed on the ground, panting from the strain on their arms and their chakra. They collapsed on the wet sand, unimaginably happy to be free of the wind, from the whirling sand.

After too short a time, Temari leapt up again, energy restored impossibly fast, voice rough and commanding as usual. "Lets go. We need to get home. Now."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at her, silently glad that she didn't notice, and got up lazily. At least the sand and the wind was gone. It wasn't as troublesome as it used to be. Now he was just stuck trekking with Temari. Again. But that was old news. He could stand it.

They walked again, this time faster, almost running. They were eager to get dry, to get clean, to get sand out of certain unmentionable places. They were eager to be surrounded by others, eager to forget the memories of each other's warmth when there was nothing else but sand and wind.

After a while, Temari spoke. "Would you rather. You know how to play right? Play with me!"

Actually, Shikamaru had expected that. This time, he didn't even scoff, didn't even roll his eyes. Actually, he was ready for it. Eager? No… He couldn't be.

Temari thought for a while, her steps still fast as she bit her lip, thinking of a formidable question. In a second, she opened her mouth to ask, but something else blurted out.

She didn't even know why she said it. She hadn't even considered it. The thought hadn't even crossed her mind. She would take it back, scream at him to forget it.. but that would feel lame. So she just waited for him to answer the stupid questions that had come out of her lips a second ago.

"Would you rather be stuck in a sandstorm with Ino, or with me?"

Now that she asked it… she realized that she wanted to know. Not in a romantic way… of course! She just wanted to know who he would be more comfortable with… who he trusted more. Who he could rely on… who he could feel safe with.

His voice was oddly sincere, uncharacteristically emotional as his answer came out.

"Ino."

_Because_…_ I wouldn't want you to get hurt._

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A/N That last comment was a THOUGHT, by the way. If it wasn't obvious.

Was he OOC? Was she?! Agh! I hate this, I think I'm totally disgracing the wonderful joy of ShikaTema-ness with this rubbish.

Um.. I'll probably be posting once a week, if I can. I'm a busy person though.. so don't cut on regularity. Reviews would help!


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